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Shorting a stock is not a basic feature, it's an advanced feature for power users.

You can buy put options on Robinhood already.

It's absolutely a basic feature. It's the opposite of buying a share, and your profit/loss is easy to calculate. With options, you need to worry about premium, time decay, spreads and lower liquidity, etc.

Shorting is very arguably more complicated than put options; Key factors are dividends, float, and short interest.

From a brokerage house perspective, it's a whole other marketplace to set up (brokers willing to back your interest)

Fair points but at least you don’t have to worry about changes in implied volatility (Vega) when shorting. You can buy a put option right before an earnings report and watch it’s implied volatility drop like a rock after the earnings report is released. This can remove any profit you would’ve made pretty straightforwardly with a short. Not to mention you also have to pay Theta (time-decay value) all while holding the put option.

It's a feature available if you request it for most brokerages. That's what I consider a basic feature.

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